Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-04-14
SIR JOHN KAYE.
Chats About Chinook Winds, Cattle, Emigrants,
and Stocks,

SIR JOHN KAYE.
Chats About Chinook Winds, Cattle, Emigrants,
and Stocks.
New York Herald.
Sir John Lister Kaye is stopping
with friends in this city. He will sail
by the steamship Germanic for Eng
land. A representative OF the Herald
called upon him and requested him
to give him some information about
his colonization scheme in the great
Northwest, in which he hopes to in
terest the English Government.
Certainly" said Sir John, "there
is no secret about the matter-infact,
the greater publicity given to it the
better. You see the fact is people
now and then find it necessary for
their happiness and fortunes to pack
up and move away from their old
homes. In England there is always a
class OF enterprising farmers who are
anxious to benefit their condition,
and the question with them is, Where
shall we go?
Now, I have had considerable ex.
p~erience in farming in California, and
in looking about for better lands was
not only able to settle the question: TO
my own personal satisfaction but for
the English farmer as well. That
seems a big thing to say. but / will
show it to you. Just look at this, !"
said Sir John, unfolding long section.
al map; "this red line is the Canadian
Pacific Railroad; this black line divides
Canada from the States; these twenty
squares divided by the railroad con-
tain 10, acres each. They extend
over a distance of 400 miles as inter-
walls of twenty miles. The one far
thest east, you see, is located at Rush
Lake, a distance OF 500 miles west OF
Winnipeg, and the farthest west is al
most at the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains. just I'VE the line south
OF us is the State OF Montana"
at must be pretty cold, is it not?"
THAT is just the singular part of it.
The Provinces Alberta and Assiniboin
are an oasis, indeed. Everybody
knows that to the warm winds of the
Pacific Ocean the fertility of the
western slope of the Rocky Mountains
is due. Now, through the Selkirk
range of the Rockies the Pacific winds
pass and are called the chinook winds.
They pass over the plateau, melting
the snow and making pasturage, while
a few hundreds miles due south the
prairies are covered many feet deep
with snow. This wind is to that
part OF Canada what the Gulf Stream
is to the British Isles and Northern
Europe. 1t is a recorded fact by the
Hudson Bay people and Indians that
the buffalo from the great prairies oil
the States went north in the winter
and south in the spring, showing they
went where there was open winter.
While the loss of cattle in Montana
from the severity OF the winter has
been enormous, the chinook winds
have tempered the weather OF Alberta,
and Senator Cochrane Of Alberta wires
me: No losses; cattle doing we'll
That speakes for ITSELF"
"Are you carrying this project
single-handed?"
o, no. This is q matter involving
millions. There will be a syndicate OF
gentlemen calling itself the Alberta
and Assiniboin Land, Stock & Coal
company. The Canadian government
and the directors of the Canadian Pa.
ciiic railway are alive to the import.
ance of my work, and grant me i'm,
mensely valuable concessions. For
instance, such lands as the Dominion
are selling for SO per acre | get for
Sl.37 per acre. / am granted $4,000
acres offree coal lands and free freights
for330 miles during a period oftwelve
years. But | suppose you don't care
about this"
What is it you propose to ask OF
the British government
al don't propose to ask anything.
1t is my intention to lay
before it a colonization scheme.
For sometime past the idea oil
assisting the emigrant has been under
actual consideration, but for want O!
n definite scheme has not come to an
issue. My idea is one / have found
feasible from actual experience ut
Balgonic, or the Canadian Pacific
Railroad, where l have u property OF
5000 acres. lind it costs about $500
to start a homestead. Now, a man
working for the company at S25 per
month for a year, if he is found, will
have $500. My idea is that the Gov,
eminent send to us 300 trusty, worthy
farmers, paying their transportation,
wages for one year, and 40 cents per
day for keep. ! lind them homes in
our buildings, and while they are work.
ing Tor us they can acquire a knowledge
OF the surrounding lands. At the
end of the year, if their conduct has
been satisfactory, they can continue
in the company's employment, and
they can take up land in the neighbor,
hood of the properties on which they
are employed. In this way the hard,
ships of an emigrant are relieved and
he embarks in a happy farming life
eased of many difficulties"
what purpose can the land be put
tor"
ITO the raising of cereals. roots,
grasses, horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs.
Is that enough" said Sir John laugh.
ing. ut seems hardly possible to real,
lie that it takes exactly as many
days to GO from London to Balgonie
as it did in the early part of the
century to go from the North of Ire,
land to London. 1t does. though, il
takes ten days. 1t is fair for an
E~nglishman to regard the land in that
way. Equipping the two properties
IN the same way, the conditions pre-,
vailing in the Northwest make the
Canadian farm immeasurably supe
rlor. 1t is unnecessary to call atten,
ton to a result where the returns pei
acre are the same and the value of the
land so different. Besides this, men
can go largely into cattle raising; fol
instance, | have a contract with an
owner Of $4,000 head OF cattle in
Montana to deliver to us the whole
herd, accepting in payment for the
same 80 per cent In cash and the bal
ance in shares. | do not know any,
thing | might say about cattle raising
or offer a better proof of our country
than this very contract, do your"
when do you expect to return?"
I'm about six weeks or two months.
Nasty day"
Since the fight between the Monitor
and the Merrimac the sentinel who
PAGES to and fro along the ramparts